Last week I passed the ISCW exam. This exam just happens to be the fourth and final exam for the CCNP certification, so I am now an official “Cisco Certified Network Professional”. Hopefully this will open a lot of doors for me.

The last eight months of my life have been devoted to acquiring this cert. I studied just about everyday into all hours of the night. It was difficult but I am relieved that it’s over now.

A few of Sundays ago I went to see Kid Rock at the Verizon in downtown Houston. He was headlining a local radio station’s holiday extravaganza.

Kid Rock puts on a helluva a show. He played most of my favorite songs and really thrilled me with his showmanship. He also played every instrument on stage at one time or another which was quite impressive. I will definitely go see him again.

I purchased the tickets from a friend at work who was unable to attend due to family commitments. A few days before the show, Terri decided she didn’t want to go because the concert was late on a Sunday and she had to be at work early on Monday. None of my friends wanted to go either because of the same reason. I decided to ask my mother to attend it with me. She was delighted. I had never brought my mother in to my world like this before. It was a trip. She had a great time and so did I. I did have to hold back a little because I was not going to jump in the mosh with her standing right next to me. But it would have been funny to see her crowd surf…

If you know me, you’ll know that I am a creature of habit. I do the same thing everyday after work. I go run. I drive home, and then I unpack my crap and put it in its proper place. Next I will re-pack my bag for the next day and then I will hit the shower. This is also true for the morning. I will get up and eat a bowl of cereal. Next I will check my e-mail and digg to see if there is anything interesting going on. After that I will hit the shower and get dressed and head out to work. I am so predictable that my dogs know when to head outside! See a pattern?

Having said that, when I arrive at work, I try to park Thor in the same spot every day. The parking spot that I chose is the best one in the whole lot, in my opinion. It’s out of the sun for most of the day. One side is striped off so people can’t park next to me. And it is next to cover in case it is raining. The only negative thing is that it is just about as far as you can be from the entrance to my building as you can get and still be in the lot. I guess it is a positive also because people rarely park in it.

Lately, Mr. Mark seems to think that it might be funny to park in “my spot”. The first day he parked in it I didn’t realize it was him until later. He overheard me talking to someone else about the jack@ss that was in “my spot” and admitted that it was him. He also explained that he did it just to drive me nuts. Which it did but I couldn’t let him know that. Following our conversation, Mark parked in “my spot” every chance he got. If I was late, he was there. If he was early, he was there. Frustrating… One morning I came in and some one had put TMC (Texas Medical Center) traffic cones in front of “my spot”. I just knew it had been him but he denied it……I am still not sure. We have been going back and forth over this for a few weeks.

So on Friday, when I pulled into the parking lot I noticed Mr. Mark in front of me and figured it was payback time. It just so happened that this time he parked in the space next to “my spot”. So when I pulled Thor in to “my spot”, I got as close as I could to his vehicle without actually hitting him. There is no possible way he was ever getting back in his vehicle. You see Mark is a big guy. Not fat, more like a linebacker from Nebraska. Big. It would not be possible for him to enter his vehicle through the passenger side.

Victory was sweet, but it didn’t last.

Later that morning, during our engineering meeting, I received a voicemail from TMC security. They let me know I was double parked and asked if I would please move my vehicle. I immediately and playfully accused Mark of being a little girl for calling the cops. He said he didn’t but wished he had because he thought that would have been hilarious. I kind of blew it off because to me it wasn’t a big deal. I was only double parked in Mark’s space and I knew he wouldn’t complain. Later that afternoon, a freaking TMC security guard came looking for me. It just so happened I was playing Rock Band with some guys from work and we had to end the set so I could take care of my problem. The security guard explained that a couple of VIP’s with TMC told him to find me or they would tow Thor. So I reluctantly went down and moved Thor before Mark had to leave to go home. I felt robbed but I also didn’t want to get towed. Mark wins again……